Letter From Dad
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Mia gets a letter from her dad. Oneshot following The Time They All Got Sick.


_Disclaimer: I do not own anything_

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><p>"Michael, give it back!" Mia demanded with an obvious tone of irritation in her voice. She scowled at the green Ranger who was holding her letter in his hands.<p>

"Contact with friends and family is not permitted," Mike did his best Mentor Ji imitation. Mia tried snatching her letter from his hand but he pulled it away and smirked.

"So obviously this is important," Kevin sighed, trying to help his fiancé get her letter back. Mike didn't look like he was ready to let it go. He seemed to be having too much fun. "Mike, let her read it."

Mike grumbled as he handed the letter back to the pink Ranger, "You guys are no fun."

When the letter was safe in her hands, Mia pushed Mike into the wall, or, she would have pushed him into the wall if Emily hadn't walked in at that moment. Mike only saw his girlfriend at the last moment and stumbled over himself so he wouldn't run into her. Things couldn't have worked out better for Mia as she watched Mia dance around Emily only to land face first on the couch with his head between the cushions.

Mia was proud of herself and she smirked at Mike's predicament before walking over to her stool and taking a seat. She opened up her letter and began to read it.

"Hey, a quarter!" Mike chuckled as he pulled his head out from the cushions with a little help from Jayden and Antonio, and then he reached in with his hands to retrieve the quarter trapped in the sofa. He grinned happily and put the coin in his pocket before looking up at Emily, "Why are you out of bed? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Phone's for you," Emily held up her cell phone for Mike. "Serena wants to talk to you."

"What? Why?" Mike asked as he took the phone. He couldn't say no to a talk with his girlfriend's sister. He had to stay in her good books.

Emily shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I just told her I wasn't feeling well because you guys made me sick and she asked to talk to you."

"Alright, I'll talk to her, but you need to go back to bed," Mike waved his arm in the direction of their bedroom and put Emily's cell phone to his ear. "It was protected, I swear! I… uh… okay…"

Mike held out the phone to Kevin and looked slightly confused, "She says she wants to talk to you for a minute."

"Me?" Kevin asked. He took the phone and held it to the side of his face. He nodded his head as Serena spoke. After a few seconds a smile appeared on his face. "Gladly."

He handed the phone back to Mike just before smacking the green Ranger hard over the head. Mike glared at Kevin, then down at the phone.

"It was just a joke, Serena! ... Fine, I'll never do it again, so what's up?" Mike asked, turning his back to the Rangers to get a little more privacy. That was when he saw Emily was still in the room. He shot her a look and pointed to the bedroom. Emily didn't see him, though, and stepped past him.

"Mia… are you okay?" she asked when she noticed the pink Ranger seemed to be lost in thought while reading what appeared to be a letter. Mia looked up when she heard her name and nodded her head.

"Uh, yeah… it's just a letter from my dad."

"Your dad?" Antonio asked. "What's he got to say?"

"He's moving across the country to live with his girlfriend."

"Huh?" Jayden, Emily and Antonio all frowned. Kevin took a seat beside his fiancé and rubbed her back gently.

Mike's jaw hung open when he heard. Serena calling his name on the other end of the line snapped him back to reality, "Uh, yeah, I promise I'll make it for her when she gets hungry. Look, something's come up, I got to go."

He hung up the phone and slipped it inside Emily's sweater pocket. He looked at Mia.

"Judging by the look on your face, I'm going to take a guess and say you had no idea your parents were having problems."

Mia shook her head, "No… no… I knew… well, actually, it's not marriage problems…"

"Her parents aren't married," Kevin explained. He tried to say as little as possible, knowing this was a touchy topic for Mia, but he figured sharing that little bit wouldn't do harm.

"They aren't married?" Antonio asked. "What…? Why not?"

"They split when I was little," Mia answered.

"Oh…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," Mia shook her head. "I lived with my grandmother anyways. Divorced, married… it didn't matter. I still saw them on a regular basis. They would always visit me together."

"So, is this the first time you hear of your parents dating?" Jayden asked. Again, Mia shook her head.

"They've both had partners before," she said. "Nothing's ever lasted more than a couple months, though. Mom and dad being civil, their only daughter refusing to live with them, coming to see me almost every Friday and Saturday took up a lot of time; neither of them seemed to have it in them to make a relationship last beyond a few dates."

"But now you're dad's obviously figured it out with this new girlfriend," Mike said. "If he wants to move in with her, that's a big step."

"I don't really care what he does," Mia said, sounding a little bitter, "It's the request in the letter that bothers me."

"What request?" Kevin asked. Mia handed him the letter to read himself. He did just that and when he finished he turned back to her with a soft look, "He wants to come here to say goodbye?"

"You would have to clear that with Mentor Ji," Jayden said, "but if this is the only chance you'll have to say goodbye to him, I'm sure…"

"You're assuming I want to say goodbye to him," Mia spat. Kevin sighed. He took her hand and squeezed it.

"Mia…"

"Do you hate your dad or something?" Emily asked.

"No, I don't hate him. He's my dad but… there's a reason I chose to live with my grandmother."

Mike just shrugged his shoulders, "If my parents divorced I would probably have a hard time choosing who to live with too. Staying completely neutral would…"

"I moved in with my grandmother while they were still happily married," Mia interrupted. She set the letter down on the table. "Look, guys, don't worry about it. I don't want to say goodbye to my dad. He'll understand. There's a reason he asked before showing up, and it's not because it's against the rules."

"It's because he knew you probably wouldn't want to see him?" Jayden assumed and he was proven right when Mia nodded her head.

"I'll write back to him, if it's allowed," Mia looked to Jayden and he nodded his head, understanding that under the circumstances Mentor Ji would have to make an exception to the rules, "but aside from that I don't need to see or hear from him again, or my mom for that matter. I can wait until we've stopped Master Xandred."

Mia got up and hurried out of the room. Kevin was quick to follow her. He caught her by the arm before she locked herself in her room. He pulled her into his arms and squeezed her.

"I know you probably feel really weird about all this," he whispered to her.

"I don't feel weird," Mia sighed. "I feel bad. He's my dad. Aside from leaving me with my grandmother when I was a kid he and mom have been nothing but good to me. I should probably see him or phone him or do the most I can do before he leaves but… I don't want to."

"And you don't have to," Kevin assured her. "You feel the way you feel. You can't help it. He's probably going to be disappointed, but he'll understand. You said it yourself, that's why he asked before turning up."

Mia pulled away from Kevin. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned away.

"The others probably think I'm screwed up or something," she said. "Oh, poor Mia with the divorced parents…"

"Mia, they're your friends. They won't think any less of you. I didn't."

"You weren't allowed," Mia frowned. Kevin walked around her so he was facing her. He lifted her chin and kissed her forehead.

"Let them worry about you for a little bit," he said. "They are allowed to care for you, you know."

"I don't want them to. I can take care of myself."

"You didn't complain about being taken care of by Emily when you were sick."

"I hated asking her to do everything for me."

"Liar, it felt good to relax," Kevin chuckled.

"Still," Mia sighed, "I can take care of myself."

"No one's saying otherwise," Kevin smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her in close. "You've figured out how to take care of all of us, surely you know how to take care of yourself. The problem is: you never seem to."

"Never seem to what?"

"Take care of yourself," Kevin took Mia's hand and gently pulled her into their room. "You don't have to see your dad if you really don't want to. The choice is yours. But writing him a letter couldn't hurt. I'll let you say whatever you want to say, but I'll help you when it gets a little hard."

Mia smiled up at her fiancé. She knew she loved him, but it was moments like these where she knew why she loved him. He always made sure she was well looked after, especially when she let herself slip through the cracks. He would always catch her and pull her back up.

She got on her toes and stole a kiss.

"Thanks, Kevin."

"Anytime."

-Samurai-

"Are you sure you don't want to do this?" Emily asked, holding the letter for Mia's father over the slot for the mailbox while Mia, Kevin and the rest of the Rangers watched. Mia nodded her head.

"I'm sure."

"It's your letter. Your words. Your father."

"Emy, drop the letter."

"But… MIA!" Emily giggled as Mia tickled her sides and forced her to drop the letter in the mailbox. Emily peeked inside the slot when the letter disappeared and she sighed sadly. "Oh… it's gone."

"It's sent. My dad will get it right before he moves away," Mia said. "I did all I could do for him."

"I still don't get why you wouldn't want to see him," Mike frowned. "I'm sure Mentor Ji would have said yes, given your dad's moving so far away."

"Yeah," Antonio agreed with Mike, "You told us he was always nice to you, and you said it wasn't a nasty divorce between your parents… why won't you see him?"

"We grew apart," Mia shrugged. "I miss him and my mom, but I've been living without them since I was five. If it had been my grandmother asking to come down, on the other hand, not even Mentor's rules would have been able to stop me from getting her here."

"We all come from different families," Jayden said with a slight shrug. "Some things that we find weird are more normal to others."

"Like pickles on pizza," Emily teased her boyfriend. He shot her a playful glare.

"I'm adventurous, miss simple pepperoni."

"It's a classic," Emily giggled.

Mia rolled her eyes at the younger couple before leaning into Kevin. He wrapped his arm around her as they started to walk home.

"Thanks for helping me with that," she whispered so only he would hear her. He smiled.

"We're getting married, Mia. Your problems are my problems. Anything I can do to help, I will."

"I'm sorry I have to drag you into my weirdo family. I promise, when we all get together it's not going to seem strange. We actually have a lot of fun, my mom, dad, grandmother and I… but only when it's all of us."

"Did you ever spend weekends with just your parents?" Kevin asked her. "You know, without your grandmother?"

Mia shook her head, "Once in a blue moon… maybe. Get-togethers like that were usually awkward. Mom and dad felt so bad for hurting me and as I got older and started to understand why they left, I started feeling more and more silly for hating them."

"We all felt abandoned when our parents left to be Samurai. I hated my dad for months when he left. Mike told me he ripped up all his pictures of his dad and Emily… well; she was too young to notice, wasn't she?"

"Serena tells me Emily started acting up a lot when her mother first left. Even babies know when mommy's not around."

"Still, that's my point. We were all hurt and scared, but we all had one parent who stayed behind to comfort us and care for us. Your dad… I know he thought he was doing the right thing by going with your mom… just in case something happened… but he left you alone. I would still be mad at both my parents if they left me. You don't have to feel silly; you don't have to feel bad."

"Easier said than done," Mia rolled her eyes but she smiled up at Kevin. "You're amazing, you know that."

"I tell myself that every day," Kevin smirked proudly. Mia swatted him in the chest.

"Shut up," she laughed.

"Ow," Kevin rubbed his chest, though it didn't hurt. He shot Mia a sad look, "Kiss it better."

"Yeah, right," Mia chuckled and shook her head. Kevin tickled her sides.

"Kiss it."

"No!" Mia tried to get away from him, but he chased after her. She pushed through the other four Rangers in her attempt to flee from Kevin.

"Mia! You have to kiss it better!" Kevin called to her as he ran after her.

Emily chuckled and looked up at Mike, "And they call us kids."


End file.
